This Bill Establishing a State Polka Is Caught in a Legislative Two-Step

In Connecticut, Fans Keep Rolling Out Request; Memories of 'Polkabration'

ENLARGE

Connecticut polka legend Ray Henry
Courtesy Peter Danielczuk

By

Joseph De Avila

March 7, 2013 10:31 p.m. ET

Connecticut has an official state insect, a fossil and even a tartan. Why not a state polka song?

That is the question radio host Peter Danielczuk, known as the Connecticut Prince of Polka, is asking state lawmakers. He is pushing to get "Ballroom Polka," written by Connecticut polka legend Ray Henry, adopted as the official state polka.

Connecticut Polka Proponents Keep Trying to Strike Right Note

Mr. Henry, who died in 1998, is one of 19 Polka Hall of Fame members from Connecticut. The state—which has more Hall of Famers than any other besides Illinois—has a rich polka history that deserves more respect, Mr. Danielczuk says.

During the U.S. polka boom, from the 1950s through the 1970s, hundreds of dancers crowded the pavilion at Warsaw Park in Ansonia, Conn., drawn by good music and free beer. In New London, Conn., the annual "Polkabration" drew thousands.

If Mr. Danielczuk's campaign prevails, Connecticut would become at least the third U.S. state to bestow official recognition on polka. Neighboring Massachusetts named "Say Hello to Someone in Massachusetts" as its state polka in 1998, and Wisconsin designated polka the official state dance in 1993.

"Massachusetts has one, why doesn't Connecticut?" says Mr. Danielczuk, 61 years old, who has hosted polka radio shows in Connecticut for more than 40 years.

Mr. Danielczuk first succeeded in 2006 in getting a state legislator to propose the polka-song bill, but so far his efforts haven't hit the right note.

"Bad timing," Mr. Danielczuk says. Sympathetic state lawmakers have told him they like the idea, he says, but haven't had time to vote on it. In a state legislature that weighs hundreds of proposed bills every year, the polka proposal just hasn't been a high priority for lawmakers.

"Anybody that has been in the Legislature has seen some bills die on the vine there during the final crunch," says state Rep. Ed Jutila, co-chairman of the government administration and elections committee. The polka legislation needs to be approved by Mr. Jutila's committee before the whole state legislature can vote on it. A hearing was held Feb. 22, but no vote is scheduled. "They all don't make it to the floor," he said.

ENLARGE

Mr. Danielczuk is hoping busy state lawmakers—who face a $1.2 billion budget deficit and are studying a host of new laws this session—will change their tune this year.

State Rep. Linda Gentile, sponsor of the polka bill, says it is time Connecticut gave polka a fair shake. "We have a state bird, we have a state fish, we have a lot of things named the state whatever. It's a nice thing," she says. "It's all relative. What may be silly to you may be important to someone else."

It won't be the first number. Connecticut already has a state song—"Yankee Doodle"—and a state folk dance, the square dance. Connecticut also has a state animal (the sperm whale), state ship (USS Nautilus) and a state mineral (garnet).

Mr. Jutila says the bill known as "An Act Concerning the State Polka" will get due consideration by his committee.

Polka is both a genre of music and a dance that originated in Central Europe in the 19th century and was popularized in the U.S. primarily by Polish immigrants. The music evolved as Americans added their own twists, says Barb Haselow, president of the U.S. Polka Association, in Cleveland. The Polish variety mainly relied on accordions, concertinas and drums. Americans added instruments such as trumpets, saxophones, clarinets and violins.

In Connecticut, musicians such as Ray Henry, an accordion virtuoso who wrote the proposed state polka, were at the forefront of the evolving styles.

Bands from New Jersey, Massachusetts and elsewhere came to Warsaw Park in the 1960s and into the 1980s, says Helen Ptak of Ansonia, who ran the dances at the park's pavilion. "Ray [Henry] was always our favorite, though," Ms. Ptak says. "We called him 'the Maestro.' "

Mr. Henry was born on a farm in Connecticut in 1923 with the name Henry Mocarski. He adopted the stage name of Ray Henry. Mr. Henry wrote more than 1,200 waltzes and polkas.

"When you mention Ray Henry, that was the ultimate in the polka industry," says Edward Satkowski, 86, chairman of the Ray Henry Tribute Committee, which supports the polka bill. "He wrote toe-tapping music, and it inspired and ignited everybody."

Growing up, polka was part of daily life, says Mr. Henry's son, Mark Mocarski, who lives in Goose Creek, S.C. "Needless to say, you really didn't have a choice." While he loves the music, he didn't follow in his father's footsteps. "Maybe it was because I was so saturated with it. It was probably a little bit of overkill," says Mr. Mocarski, an accountant.

In the mid-1960s, Mr. Henry wrote "Ballroom Polka," which went on to become a standard. "It's a polka that most bands know, even the young ones" today, says Ms. Haselow of the U.S. Polka Association. The catchy tune would practically force people to dance, she says.

"It has to get people out of their seat to tap their feet. And that's what you would want people to think of your state, I would think," she says.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, as polka's most devoted fans aged, enthusiasm for the music in Connecticut began to peter out. The Bristol Polish Club still hosts dances, as do some small venues in the state, but most of the big crowds are gone. "Kids aren't interested like they used to be," says Ms. Ptak.

Even as the music has become less popular, however, Ray Henry fans are still working to get the state to recognize him. "I think he would get a kick out of it," says his son, Mr. Mocarski. "In the long run, the music is going to outlive any title, and that was most important to him."

It won't be the only music-related bill before the Connecticut Legislature this year, either. There is also a proposal to make the "Beautiful Connecticut Waltz" the second state song.

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